Garment holder



Nov. 24, 1959 LAND 2,913,792

' GARMENT HOLDER Filed Jan. 27, 1958 IN VEN TOR. 710 .5. id/7d ATTORNEK United States Patent Q GARMENT HOLDER Elvin S. Land, Fort Smith, Ark.

Application January 27, 1958, Serial No. 711,340

7 1 Claim. (Cl. 24-137) This invention relates to garment hangers and more particularly, to hangers of the type adapted for use 1n suspending articles of clothing such as trousers and skirts from a conventional wire rod clothes hanger having a substantially horizontal crosspiece spanning the distance between two angularly disposed members.

The most important object of this invention is to proyide a garment holder which may be constructed by mod f i a n io ot spin, and pa ti u a ly one of the type fabricated from a polymerized, synthetic resin substance, by mounting a novel clip assembly thereon so that the clothespin may be quickly and easily suspended rom t e o al pie e of th wi clo e han r d f rt m m y e o ed here om wit a min um am un of f r h o e h nd- Anoth mp ant e t Q he instan nv nti n i t p i a arment hold r a e c i d herein. th clip element is secured at one end thereof to the handle portion of one member of the clothespin in a manner so that the opposite end thereof is biased against the handle portion of the clothespin member to the end that when the clip element is hooked over the crosspiece of the wire clothes hanger, the free end of the clip reengages the handle portion of the clothespin and prevents dislodgment of the garment hanger from the wire Clothes hanger until such time as it is desired to manually remove the holder from the wire hanger. Also an important object of the present invention is to provide agarment holder of the type referred to above wherein the clip mounted on the clothespin is formed in a manner so that longitudinal movement of the clip along the member of the clothespin upon which the same is mounted is absolutely precluded, to thereby assure that when the holder is suspended from the crosspiece of a wire clothes hanger, the clothespin will not become accidentally dislodged from the clip element and thereby permit clothes hung from the holders to fall to the floor.

Other important objects of the present invention relate to the provision of a garment holder which may be constructed from a suitable, substantially T-shaped, planar blank and then bent along predetermined lines so as to present a clip especially adapted to be mounted on the handle portion of one member of a conventional plastic clothespin to thereby adapt the latter for suspension from a wire clothes hanger; to the provision of an inexpensive holder by virtue of the fact that the clip may be fabricated of two separate components which initially are merely rectangular, planar sheets of metal and which are adapted to be bent to the desired configuration; to the provision of a clip element which is particularly adapted for mounting on the handle portion of a clothespin member provided with a shoulder, with part of the clip disposed against the shoulder to prevent longitudinal movement thereof in one direction and including an inturned flange hooked over and engaging the outermost end of the handle portion of the member to thereby prevent movement of the clip element in the opposite direction, to the end that accidental dislodgment of the clip element from the clothespin is positively prevented; to the provision of .a garment holder as specified above which is constructed of inexpensive parts and which may be fabricated in a minimum amount of time and without expensive machinery, so that the entire assembly may be manufactured and distributed at a relatively low unit cost; and .to other objects and details of construction which will become obvious as the following specification progresses.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is an elevational view of two garment holders embodying the principles of the present invention and shown suspended from the crosspiece of a wire clothes hanger and operably holding a pair of trousers or the like;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation view of a garment holder constructed according to the preferred concepts of the present invention and showing the same mounted on a horizontal cross wire illustrated fragmentarily;

Fig; 3 is a side elevational view of the garment holder illustrated in Fig. '2 with certain parts thereof being broken away and in section to reveal details of construction;

Fig. 4 is a horizontal, cross-sectional view taken substantially on the line 4--4 of Fig. 2 and looking in the direction of the arrows; and

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a blank utilizable in fabrication of another type of .clip element which may be mounted on a plastic clothespin adapting the same for suspension from a wire clothes hanger.

The preferred form of the invention and which is illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive and designated broadly by the numeral 10 includes a conventional clothespin 14 provided with a pair of elongated members 16 and 18 having the jaw portions 20 thereof normally biased together by a spring 212, while the handle portions 24 are normally disposed in spaced apart relationship. Opposed faces of handle portions 24 of members 16 and 18 respectively are channeled to present longitudinally extending grooves 26, as shown in Fig. 3, it being apparent that grooves 26 present transversely extending, inwardly projecting shoulders 28 adjacent the uppermost ends of respective members 16 and 18.

A clip element indicated generally by the numeral 30 is secured to the outermost face of member 18 adjacent the outermost end of handle portion 24 thereof and includes two separate components in the nature of an elongated clip bar 32 and an elongated tie bar 34. As clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3, clip bar 32 is formed of an initially flat, elongated strip of metal with the uppermost end thereof turned inwardly to present a relatively narrow flange 36 overlying and engaging the outermost margin 38 of handle portion 24 of member 18. Clip bar 32 is also bent along transversely disposed, substantially parallel, imaginary lines 40, 42 and 44 to thereby present a pair of angularly disposed stretches 46 and 48 and a lip 50. The zone of juncture 42 between stretches v 46 and 48 is located away from the outer face of handle portion 24 of member 18 in a manner to clear rod 52 of wire clothes hanger 54, while outwardly turned lip 50 presented by bending of clip bar 32 along line 44 facilitates hooking of clip element 30 over crosspiece 52 of hanger 54.

Tie bar 34, which serves to clamp clip bar 32 to member 18, is preferably fabricated of a single strip of rec tangular sheet material provided with a relatively narrow, transverse slot 56 in one longitudinal edge thereof, of suflicient width to receive clip bar 32 as clearly illustrated in Fig. 2. Opposed ends or arms 58 and 60 of tie bar 34 are wrapped around handle portion 24 of member 18 and are crimped inwardly into channel or groove 26 as shown in Fig. 4, with the uppermost portions thereof disposed against shoulder 28 to thereby preclude movement of tie bar 34 longitudinally away from the outermost end 38 of member 18.

It is now apparent that garment holder may be easily and inexpensively manufactured by first bending a strip of metal along lines 40, 42 and 44 to form clip bar 32, then placing the latter in position on handle portion 24 of member 18, and followed by crimping of tie bar 34 around the uppermost end of clip bar 32 to securely hold that end of clip bar 32 against the outer face of handle portion 24 of member 18 and also, resiliently bias the end of clip bar 32 adjacent lip 50 into engagement with the outermost face of member 18. Engagement of flange 36 with outer margin 38 of member 18 and also disposition of ends 58 and 60 of tie bar 34 against shoulder 28 prevent movement of clip element 30 longitudinally along member 18 in either direction.

Garment holder 10 may be readily suspended from crosspiece 52 of clothes hanger 54 by merely hooking clip element 30 over corsspiece 52, whereupon garments such as trousers 62 may be readily suspended therefrom, it oridinarily being most desirable to use a pair of garment holders 10 as illustrated in Fig. 1. After hooking of clip element 30 over crosspiece 52, the end of clip bar 32 adjacent lip 50 reengages member 18 to thereby prevent accidental displacement of holder 10 from hanger 54. v

A modified form of the invention is illustrated in Fig. 5, wherein it can be seen that the clip element adapted to be mounted on the handle portion of one member of the clothespin 14 may be fabricated from a blank broadly designated by the numeral 164 and comprising an initially flat, substantially T-shaped, planar body 166 having resilient characteristics and provided with an elongated, main element 168 and a pair of opposed, transversely extending parts or arms 170 and 172. Blank 164 may be bent along imaginary line 174 to present an inturned flange adapted to overlie outer margin 38 of member 18 and along transversely extending, parallel imaginary lines 176, 178 and 180 to present angularly disposed stretches such as 46, 48 and lip 50 of clip element 30. Furthermore, arms 170 and 172 may be bent along respective imaginary lines 182 and 184 in the same manner as ends 58 and 60 of tie 4 bar 34 are crimped around handle portion 24 of member 18. It can, of course, be appreciated that when blank 164 is suitably bent and positioned upon one member of a clothespin such as 14, operation of the garment holder thus presented is the same as described with respect to holder 10. It is thus apparent that various modifications in the instant invention may be made without departing from the spirit thereof and it is intended to be limited only by the scope of the appended claim. Having thus described the invention what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is: For use with a clothespin having a pair of opposed, spring biased members, one of said members being provided with an inwardly extending shoulder at one end thereof, the improvement of which comprises an elongated, resilient clip element; and structure securing one end of said clip element to the outermost face of said one member, said element extending longitudinally of said one member and said structure being wrapped transversely about said one member adjacent said one end thereof and engaging said shoulder whereby to prevent longitudinal and transverse movement of said element, the other end of said element being resiliently biased against the outermost face of said one member whereby the clothespin may be releasably suspended from a clothes hanger by hooking said clip element over a rod forming the horizontal crosspiece of the hanger, said clip element and said structure being separate components, said structure comprising a strip of material having a transverse slot in one longitudinal edge thereof, the strip overlying said one end of the clip element, said clip being received by the slot, the ends of the strip being wrapped transversely about said one end of the member with the upper edges of said ends of the strip in abutting engagement with the lowermost face of said shoulder.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,499,292 Claus June 24, 1924 1,595,155 Henter Aug. 10, 1926 1,607,477 Potter Nov. 16, 1926 1,683,049 Penley Sept. 4, 1928 2,208,722 Doty July 23, 1940 2,525,985 Weymouth Oct. 17, 1950 2,569,371 Cohen Sept. 25, 1951 

